Photo: Michael Rivera · CC BY-SA 3.0Few U.S. towns have household incomes as low as Edison’s
Poverty touches 40.6% of residents; Georgia has 13.4%. Measured by household income, Edison is among the lowest-earning towns in the country. The two grades for Edison are D− for jobs and income and C+ for walkability.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The work figures that set Edison apart
Edison’s biggest commute is a long one
The top workplace outside Edison is Albany, 33 miles away as the crow flies. 12% of working residents (51) make that trip; no town closer to home draws more of them. How far ↓
Commutes from Edison are quick
The average trip to work takes 19 minutes, against 28 across Georgia. That’s about 69 hours a year less on the road than the typical Georgia worker. Time on the road ↓
A big share show a job far from home
30% of working residents have a main job more than 50 miles away. Part of that is employers that report every worker at one head office, so not all of those trips happen daily. How far ↓
Written from the Census figures on this page. Commute flows, distances and jobs are Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs only (the self-employed aren’t counted); commute time and working from home are from the Census American Community Survey; with 436 working residents, small shifts move the shares.
Breaking down the Jobs & income grade for Edison
On income, poverty and job access, Edison is near the bottom of U.S. towns. All three inputs sit close together, so no single one decides Edison’s grade.
Unemployment (13.6%) is left out: Edison’s labor force is under 1,000, too few workers for a steady figure.
A firm grade. At either end of the Census margins of error for income and poverty, Edison stays D−.
Half of Edison commutes less than 34 miles
About 30% show a job over 50 miles away. Some of that is real, and some is employers that report every worker at a head office, so a few long commutes are on paper only.
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
A commute of about 19 minutes in Edison
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 6.2 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Edison workers work from home, vs 16% across Georgia. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 331 commuters (the 7% who work from home are left out). Across Georgia: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
A workday in Edison: who goes, who stays, who comes
On a workday 405 residents head out to work, 31 work right here, and 258 people come in from elsewhere.
About 1,000 people are in Edison on a workday afternoon, 13% fewer than live here.
0.66 jobs for every working resident, so most people commute out.
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
12% of working residents work in Albany
Where Edison clocks in
12% of workers
7% of workers
6% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The kinds of work in Edison
289 jobs are based in Edison.
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Edison, 2013 → 2023: 278 → 289. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Edison’s own residents hold wherever they work.
Most trips from Edison start in a car
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Edison is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 3.0% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 3.1% across Georgia, on an EPA index of 5.7.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 355 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service: no data. EPA’s transit file has no stops for most of this county (its agencies had not published schedules in the format EPA used in 2020). That is missing data, not a finding that there is no bus or train.
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 19.1% of Edison households have no vehicle (Georgia 5.9%, U.S. 8.4%). 0% of Edison’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Edison compares with U.S. towns of 800 to 1,500
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Somerset MD | 1,151 | $250K | 1.9% | 2.3% | <1% | A+ |
| 2 | Bellerose NY | 1,169 | $232K | 1.6% | 6.1% | 1% | A+ |
| 3 | Baxter Estates NY | 1,014 | $154K | 1.0% | 3.1% | 1% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 111 | Winterville GA | 1,203 | $111K | 3.2% | 0.9% | 1% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 213 | Clermont GA | 1,165 | $136K | 4.7% | 3.1% | 2% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 510 | Robins AFB GA | 1,193 | $107K | 5.9% | 9.9% | 2% | B+ |
| … | |||||||
| 3,735 | Fort Thompson SD | 1,147 | $47K | 41.6% | 10.5% | 27% | D− |
| 3,736 | Marshall AR | 1,320 | $28K | 31.8% | 4.8% | 30% | D− |
| 3,737 | Edison GA | 1,145 | $29K | 40.6% | 13.6% | 7% | D− |
| 3,738 | Baldwin MI | 1,025 | $25K | 38.9% | 6.6% | 10% | D− |
| 3,739 | Winfield TN | 1,037 | $34K | 28.4% | 4.2% | <1% | D− |
| … | |||||||
| 3,771 | Oglala SD | 1,071 | $21K | 68.8% | 26.5% | 0% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Edison, the top three, the last and three more from Georgia.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Edison: questions
What is the median household income in Edison?
$29,375 (±$11,418) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $77,353 across Georgia and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Edison?
40.6%, against 13.4% across Georgia and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Edison?
19 minutes each way on average, against 28 across Georgia and 26 nationally. 7% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Edison work?
7% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Albany (12%, 33 mi), Arlington (7%, 8 mi), Colquitt (6%, 27 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Edison walkable?
Edison is more walkable than 43% of U.S. towns (Walkability C+): an EPA walkability index of 5.7 out of 20, and 3% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Edison without a car?
0% of commuters take transit and 19% of households have no car. EPA has no transit data for this county.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Edison, from the people who make the trip.
More of Edison
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.